That One Soldier
by SupcommMonroee
Summary: A story about a human boy and an Eteno soldier on Earth, post-invasions. Reviews are desired, but no flames please.
1. Chapter 1

That One Soldier

A/N – This story is a tie-in to a larger project on the Spore Fan Fiction Wiki. Traffic has been a bit slow, and this little story is tasked with bringing attention to our rich, detailed universe there.

Jacob surveyed from his shattered window the clogged sidewalks below, and the busy men and women bustling about upon it. Every now and then, an occupier would stroll by with a confident gait, keeping a firm grip on their rifles. While the occupiers could be awe-inspiring when they needed to, the level of intimidation caused by a foot patrol was meagre, as the yellow creatures' almost comical height worked against the image that the young men attempted to project. It was painfully obvious, however, that the patrollers also knew of their short stature compared to humans, as the ones that looked a tad older normally sustained a blank stare ahead of them, intent on not interacting with the beleagured populace. Jacob walked over to his bed, and sat down, the springs creaking under his weight. He pulled a fine wooden guitar from bellow the frame, and began to play, with a minor degree of skill, a tune he had composed himself. It was a sombre tune he had written after the death of his mother during the second invasion. The only reason he had time in his normally-clustered schedule to compose a piece of music was that the school he attended five days a week was now nothing more than a pile of rubble serving as filler for a few craters. Most wide buildings little more than two or three stories in Bridgeport were in similar state. Still, there were a few schools still operating in the state, even after the colossal battles that had taken place merely months earlier. However, they ran far beyond maximum capacity, and now aimed not to teach the standard curriculum, but about the occupiers, their culture, and their reason for being here. Probably the most prominent lesson that the overburdened teachers were tasked with getting across was that the Eteno were not occupiers. Regardless of how far they went out of their way to aid the population of Earth and protect it from genocidal attackers, the title of occupier was still pinned on them. Foot patrols being harassed was a common occurance. Clobs of mud would be tossed at them, passers-by would shoot spiteful looks at them as they brisked past, and the occasional rebellious youth would try to attack them close-up. These odd attempts normally ended with disaster, as most Eteno were stronger than they look, and were given total authority to use physical force to subdue unruly civilians. Rare was the close-up attack that did not close with the whine of an ambulance. Jacob was torn from his playing when he heard the thumping of his father's work shoes coming up the old wooden staircase. He walked up to Jacob's door, and knocked twice.

"Jacob, I need you to go out and get some food for us at the park, can you do that?"

"O-of course dad, yeah."

"Good. I need you to be back in an hour."

"Right, right dad. I'm on it."

"Good."

His father's shoes thumped down the stairs and out into the garage of their tiny urban home. Formerly a mechanic at a small car repair shop in the middle of town, he was forced to move his work into their garage, as his shop had been hit by two artillery shells during the fighting that occured in Bridgeport several months ago.

Jacob walked out of his room, leaving his door ajar, and walked down the old, creaky staircase linking his small, cube-like room to the kitchen area, bathroom door, and the door to the garage. He entered his garage, and saw his bike leaning up against a tool drawer. He saddled up, and exited the garage, taking a right onto the mostly-undamaged street. Very little motor traffic was present, allowing Jacob to proceed with great speed and little heed for his surroundings. He rode through the streets and alleyways of his hometown towards Water View Park. Within fifteen minutes, he pulled off of the road and onto the fields of the park, gazing with wonder and awe at the massive alien supply ship. It swallowed up a quarter of the park, and a chain of alien soldiers formed a human conveyor belt moving boxes of food from the cargo bay of the colossal starship to an assembly of foldable tables covered by white tents. Hundreds of people stood in line waiting for their meals for the week, jittery and wary. With a resigned sigh, Jacob walked with his bicycle into one of the shorter lines. Quickly though, more and more people lined up behind him, seeing that the line that he was in was quite advantageous to be in. The staggered line of men, women, and children crept forward every ten seconds or so as each person informed the distributor of their allergies and family members, and received their wooden food container. For such an advanced alien occupier, the Eteno used curiously primitive-seeming materials. Still, one immediately forgot about this when they saw the scanner that was in place next to the alien handing out boxes of food. From previous experience Jacob knew that it was a sort of lie detector, and ensured that nobody lied about the number of dependents they had. Soon, the movement of the line sped up and Jacob was close to getting his box. To his left, he noticed a collection of shady individuals scanning the lines. He did his best to pay no mind to them, and continued to wait in line.

"Next!" The distributor said, music to Jacob's ears.

"My dad and I, no allergies."

"Alright." Mumbled the short, uniformed alien in heavily-accented English. If he wasn't an alien, Jacob would've assumed that he was from Russia.

It said something in its' odd language to a soldier standing beside him, who promptly handed him a box labeled "Potato, Corn, Beans, Chicken".

"Here you are. Next!"


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: As it turns out, I was quite unclear last chapter as to what project this ties into. I have put that information in my profile.

Holding the bulky food box to his side with his left arm, and holding on to his bicycle with his right, Jacob started towards the street. In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the same shady men moving in on him, with surprising silence. When he turned to face them, their quick walk turned into a rush towards the boy. One of them tackled him, forcing the wind out of Jacob's lungs with a quiet "Umph". Another member of the group grabbed his food box, while the one who had tackled Jacob stood up. However, their hit-and-run would not be as easy as they had orginally planned. Despite being a sizeable distance from the transport and food distribution stand, one of the guards caught sight of the attack. He ran towards the scene, beckoning for four or five other soldiers to join him. Seeing the oncoming threat, the attackers hastily separated themselves from their prey and ran off towards the street. One of the Eteno guards knelt down next to the assailed boy while two guards ran after the men, the others firing at their legs with assault rifles, loud clacking noises and bullet casings coming from them. In short time, all three runners were brought down. The Eteno guard kneeling next to Jacob grabbed his hand and pulled him up. Actually, helped him up would be a better way to put it as he stood roughly ten inches shorter than the human.

"You okay, civilian?" He asked in a light, Polish-sounding accent.

"Yes, thank you. I'll be fine."

"What's your name? I have to record this."  
>"I'm Jacob Davies, I live on-"<p>

"No, no, that's all I need. You know those guys?"

"One of them looks familiar..." Jacob drifted as his attackers were dragged by, hands bound tightly in zipties and bandages tied around their calves, "but I don't know them."

"Ok then, you best move along now civilian. Good day."

"Thank you, you too."

Jacob grabbed his food box and righted his bike as the Eteno walked back to the tables. Continuing his walk up to the street, he noted that the foot traffic was clearing up rapidly. It was close to dinner time now, and most people were heading home to dine with themselves or whatever family they had left. The teenage boy mounted his bicycle and rode off towards his home. About halfway through his ride, Jacob heard the roar of fighter engines above him. Standing out in the dimming sky were three occupier fighter craft on patrol, racing across the sky, with three deep blue engine contrails flowing out of the craft. As soon as they appeared overhead, they shot up above the clouds at an almost ninety-degree angle, leaving only blue streaks in their wake. Mere seconds after, Jacob heard the full roar of their engines finally reaching his ears. The excitement was over, and the mostly-uneventful ride home continued. Jacob slowed as he went around a corner and saw his small garage halfway down the road. He rode towards it, and turned left into it, narrowly avoiding his father hard at work on an engine with calloused, blackened hands.

"What is it this week?"

"Potato, corn, beans, and some chicken."

"Still giving us chicken, hm? I tell you, they're gonna be all out of it next week. Anyways, you should head inside and get something started, ok?"

While receiving his week's rations from the Eteno did not evoke any bold feelings of hunger, the mention of preparing it served as a catalyst for a sharp, hungry pain in his stomach.

"I'll get on that, dad."

"Good. I'll be inside in a few minutes."

Jacob rested his bike against the chipping garage wall before walking inside he and his father's apartment with the ration box. The kitchen area sat behind the staircase, mostly-empty and littered with a few pots and pans from the previous owner. Jacob's father had intended to sell the wares, but had failed to find a buyer willing to purchase them for a good enough price. If it were up to Jacob, the silver pots and pans would not be put up for sale, but stored for when Bridgeport was rebuilt, and the two had an actual house and food to cook in the wares. He always maintained that small hope, the hope that eventually everything would go back to normal, and that the invasions of Earth would be nothing but a faint, horrid memory. Jacob dropped the wooden box of food on a small counter, and unlatched the cover. Inside were several cans of beans, sealed paper bags labeled "CORN" and "POTATO", and five cans of white chicken meat. A small smile crept its' way onto Jacob's features as he removed a can of chicken and two potato bags from the box. On another tiny counter behind him was a standard-issue autocooker kit for distributed rations. It was a small, silver case packed with food preparation tools, instruction papers, and batteries. Jacob opened the case and produced two cookers from the jumbled devices. He set up the small, portable burners on the counter. While the world may not be at all pleasant, at least this night he would be eating some meat and potatoes.


	3. Chapter 3

_The next morning..._

It was true that last night's dinner was a tad gluttonous. Eating two potatoes and a whole can of meat was not the best decision when one wanted to save as much food as possible, and avoid waste. Still, Jacob did not regret this decision. Regardless of how rational it was, eating that much food felt genuinely good, and it brought back memories of huge family dinners, especially at Thanksgiving. Consuming that whole can of chicken was a callback to the times when there would be a huge turkey, filled with stuffing, being consumed effortlessly by extended family. What contrasted life nowadays the most were not the portion sizes, but the fact that anything not eaten was thrown away. Being able to do that was one of the greatest luxuries of pre-invasion life. Of course, Jacob expected to return to those times, one way or another. For now, he was stuck compensating for last night's dinner by splitting a potato and an ear of corn with his father for breakfast. Slowly and siltently the two consuming the most important meal of the day in their tiny kitchen. Permeating the room was the faint rumble of what Jacob believed to be a distant truck. Of course, his father dismissed this idea as few trucks remained functional, and those that were would not be out at breakfast time. Over time, however, this rumble grew louder and louder, until it seemed as if the vehicle was driving around inside the garage. Jacob and his father quickly abandoned their almost-finished meal, and went outside. Coming down the road were two Eteno ICVs surrounded by infantry, some of which appeared to be part of the UEAF. This was very odd, as not only were vehicle patrols uncommon, but the UEAF was currently training all of its' men to fight with Eteno tactics. While this was quite the interesting event, Jacob's father resigned back inside to his unfinished breakfast. Jacob stayed to watch the patrol go by. On Jacob's sidewalk marched three Eteno soldiers. One of them looked quite familiar. It took notice of the human teenager, and sped up towards him. When he was within six or seven feet of him, he spoke.

"You there, you're Jacob Davies, aren't you?" The soldier said in accented English.

"Yes, are you the one who helped me at the park?"

"Mhm. Corporal Georg Vlasic. I actually have something to ask, would you at all be interested in... leaving Earth?"

"W-what do you mean by that?"

"Listen, this is gonna be on the radios soon enough, but we're pulling out. The United Earth Armed Forces will be taking over soon, and as per standard procedure, every soldier Corporal or above gets two immigrant passes. I don't know anybody to give them to, so I figured you would be interested."

"I don't know, I-"

"Listen, there's no future here. No matter what the UEAF or your national leaders say, there will be no fantastic rise from a pit of despair. Your governments have angered our top brass enough that we're completely withdrawing without leaving a single sustained investment, other than some military tactics and technology."

"W-... so you mean..."

"Yes. The Unsverter Plan never left the drawing board. But this is beside the point right now. Would you at all be interested in leaving this planet?"

"I... I won't go without my father-"

"Like I said before, I have two passes."

"Well... I'll ask him. How will I be able to contact you if it turns out we both want to leave?"

"I'll get in touch with you in two days. That's when the last bases are broken down and packed up, and the last transports leave. In three days, there won't be a single Eteno in this star system."

"Ok... ok. If you're leaving, why are you running patrols?"

"We have to give the UEAF a good start, if they have an unruly populace to deal with, things won't be too good for you. Just because we're leaving, doesn't mean we don't care about you guys. I have to get back to my patrol, I'll see you in two days."

Before Jacob could reply, Georg and thet two soldiers accompanying him ran off to regroup with the patrol. His mind working in overdrive, Jacob slowly walked back into his tiny home. What would life in the alien's empire be like? Would Jacob and his dad be able to make money? Would they have to learn the aliens' language? What would the process for becoming citizens be like? These, and many other questions dominated his thoughts. When Jacob walked back inside his apartment and saw his father taking a final bite of potato, it hit him that his father would undoubtedly want to leave Earth. He was firm in the belief that there would be no improvement in the quality of life for humans, and that life was now a matter of survival. No matter how different it may be, living in an alien empire would bring many opportunities.

"Dad, I need to ask you something."

"Sure, what is it Jacob?"

"I just talked with one of those soldiers. He said that they are leaving Earth, and that there is no future here for us."

"Now can you accept the fact that we need to make as much money as we can for-"

"W... no, he offered to give us immigration passes in order to go and live in their empire!"

"You're serious? Jacob, I can tell that you see this as a good thing, and that's spectacular. I agree that we should leave... this is an opportunity I expect not many people will have."

"Yeah, it sounds like there aren't a large amount of passes.

"Then we're going! Do we need to pack anything? Is there anything that we have that might be of value? Oh, what will their cars be like?"

The atmosphere of their small apartment went from dull and depressed to rushed and excited in an instant.


	4. Chapter 4

As much as Jacob hated indulging himself whilst so many others suffered on Earth, he couldn't help himself, and neither could his father. Some of their food they gave away, yes, but the idea of eating all that food without any negative consequences was too attractive of a prospect. Potatoes, corn, beans, chicken, they ate all of it. They gave away two cans of chicken, a can of beans, and two potatoes, but they still had more than enough to enjoy feasting for the first time in months without a care in the world. It was the night before they were to leave, and Jacob and his father had taken great care in packing their belongings. Family photos, potentially exotic items, reading material, and clothes filled the bags that had survived the invasions, or had been bought with stored food and paper money. The number of patrols on the streets of Bridgeport increased dramatically, peaking at about two foot patrols a minute at four in the afternoon, before plummeting to the occasional UEAF foot patrol at about five.

Since it was rather unorthodox for the Davies family to be feating on food instead of storing it, and spending relatively large sums of money on bags, friends of the family were suspicious. Still, they maintained absolute normality, despite the fact that their behavior had changed right before the patrol trends were upset. For three months of presiding over the town, the patrol schedules had never changed. Something was up, and everyone knew. Especially after the announcements from a loudspeaker mounted on a lone Eteno ICV rumbling through the town at seven o'clock.

"Attention civilians of Bridgeport! The Eteno Imperial Triumvirate is withdrawing all military personnel from the Sol system! Within two days, there shall be no Eteno personnel in this entire star system! If you have not yet registered yourself with the Earth Civilian Register, you are to visit a nearby UEAF checkpoint. If you seek food aid, you are to..."

Around that part of the announcement, Jacob tuned out. It was not pertinent information to him, and this gave him a certain degree of joy. He would no longer need food handouts from these aliens, and he would no longer need to swipe his registry card at every checkpoint. He was going to leave Earth behind, and embrace a new life. A life packed with mystery, and excitement. As Jacob's mind mulled over these things, the sun drifted below the horizon, making way for the moon to take over the late evening sky. Every anxious second filled Jacob with both excitement, and an odd homesickness. If the Eteno were leaving Earth like this, it might be attacked and overrun before Jacob would get the chance to return. The whole galaxy was such an amazing new frontier for him, but he simply could not help but feel a twinge of sadness at leaving his world behind. There had been a great many things he had intended to do before his death. Visit great monuments and structures, travel all over the world, meet a great deal of people. Now, he would be unable to fulfill any of these dreams. While indeed this was sad for him, the great wonders that would be open to him were just so immense in size and scale. Perhaps he could see a black hole close up. Perhaps he would be able to sample truly alien cuisine, and indulge himself in exotic virtual reality technology. Perhaps these Eteno possess, or would come to possess in his lifetime a veritable fountain of youth. All these possibilites were almost too much to bear, and Jacob fully expected to be unable to sleep at all that night. Yet, when he laid himself down in his bed, the full weight and frenzy of the day's activities came to bear. His eyes became heavy with sheer fatigue, and he drifted to sleep within minutes. That final night on Earth, he dreamed of an alien civilization, where anything was possible.

_The next morning..._

Jacob hurriedly rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Even in the early, tired hours of the day, what was soon to come hijacked his mind and body, thrusting him into a state of pure amazement, wonder, and excitedness. This was it. This was the day he was leaving Earth for a new future. He heard his father in the kitchen below him preparing one of their last, if not last, meals on Earth. Jacob rushed to clothe himself, and sprinted downstairs and into the bathroom to freshen up. He ran a comb through his greasy, jet-black hair before he brushed his teeth twice. Looking in a cracked mirror, he concluded that he looked adequately presentable, considering the lamentable state of his wardrobe and hygiene supplies. A plain, grey shirt and a pair of clean jeans projected the image of a casual, easy-going teen to Eteno, but to other humans, he was dressed for success. He dashed into the kitchen, and saw his father in a mustard-colored suit jacket and white shirt, with a red striped tie. He turned from the two cookers he was monitoring, and smiled at his son. He too was hit by the great jovial atmosphere this morning. When Jacob saw what had already been prepared for this breakfast, his mouth watered. Two cans of beans, a can of chicken, five potatoes, and three ears of corn had been prepared, with a can of beans and a potato being cooked.

"Eat up, boy. We have a big day ahead of us."

Jacob was more than happy to oblige.


	5. Chapter 5

Jacob was hardly done consuming his food in the style of a starving, feral animal when from the front door he heard three knocks. This was it. He dropped his fork and swallowed the potato in his mouth while running to the door. His father trailed close behind, both taking a deep breath before pulling open the door. Their moment had finally come. Filled with an unbridled ecstasy, Jacob slowly pulled open the old wooden door.

"H-hey guys! Th-there's a whole mob of soldiers going door to door, some taking people with them! You got any idea what the hell is up?"

It was Michael Sprinton, the Davies' neighbor and a gun shop owner by trade. Disappointment flooded Jacob and his father, before they fully realized the words of their neighbor.

"Didn't even know that this was happening, what's going on?" Jacob's dad half-faked.

"I dunno, but they're taking lots of people into trucks! That can't be good! I-if you want, you can come over to my house! I stockpiled a ton of guns and ammo!"

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm sure we'll be fine. I thank you for your concern, though."

"W-okay, but they're coming this way! Bye!" Michael Sprinton rushed away from the door, and down the sidewalk back to his home, most likely to ready defensive positions. He'd always been a bit paranoid, and it showed now like never before.

Jacob closed the door, and his father chuckled before they returned to eating. They sped up, and finished within two minutes. Immediately afterwards, they hurriedly gathered their bags and checked their appearances in the bathroom mirror. Standing in front of their door, a tense, excited air swirled around father and son. A minute. Then two. Almost five seconds after the turn of the third minute, two knocks on the door. Jacob's hand immediately reached for the doorknob, but his father put his hand in the way, knocking his back. He wanted to make it seem like they weren't waiting at the door the whole time. He waited for about six seconds, then opened the door. There stood the Corporal, and behind him on the street was a covered truck waiting for him.

"Jacob, Mr. Davies." Georg nodded at them.

"H-hello Corporal-" Jacob started.

"Name's Georg, Jacob. I'm not that much older than you."

"So, are we going to leave now?" Jacob's father said, a tad of youthful excitement seeping into his voice.

"Of course. Truck's for us, come on."

Georg turned and walked towards the truck, beckoning for his two immigrant hopefuls to follow him. They obliged, and George climbed into the back of the truck. People of many different ages sat on three benches, clutching personal items or holding bags or infants. Still, there was quite a bit of remaining space.

"Okay you two, all in. Sit next to these two." George pointed at an old woman and a girl who looked about the age of Jacob sitting silently.

Jacob and his father got in the truck, and put their bags under their benches. Jacob sat next to the girl. She _certainly_ looked pretty to him, but this was probably the worst time in his life to develop some sort of puppy love. So, he remained silent for the whole ride. It lasted about an hour, with the truck making occasional stops around the city. At the end of the drive through Bridgeport, the vehicle reached full capacity, and it sped off towards a base North of the city. Before they left the city, Jacob could've sworn he saw Micahel Sprinton fall to his knees on a street corner and yell, "Not the Davies! _They got you too!_", before burying his head in his hands. Soon, the Eteno truck joined up with a larger convoy coming from the direction of New York City, and continued towards the base. When they arrived, it looked nothing like what it was right after the second invasion had been repelled. Formerly, it was a first-class fortress, with towering walls with machine-gun towers every thirty feet, searchlights, tanks patrolling the outside, and huge collections of soldiers marching around. As the convoy drove inside the perimeter, Jacob saw rows of tents, resting soldiers, the broken-down remains of once-grand walls, parked vehicles, and stacks of supply crates.

"Attention all personnel! Air embarkation to the main withdrawl zone leaves in thirty minutes, that is three-zero minutes!" A deep-voiced alien boomed over a loudspeaker system still in working order. The convoy eventually reached a huge helipad in a flat field, filled with alien helicopters landing and taking off, filled with supplies, vehicles, soldiers, and immigrant hopefuls. The convoy parked right outside of it.

"Okay, everyone out!" An alien officer in the truck yelled in oddly-perfect English.

Obeying the Eteno, the odd collection of occupants in the vehicle unloaded themselves and whatever luggage they had, before meeting up with the men that had sponsored their possible immigration. Jacob and his father stood around Georg, who was standing next to a loading Eteno HV-17.

"Okay, Jacob Davies, you are with the J choppers. Zack Davies, you're with the Zs."

"I need to be with my-"

"Mr. Davies, you have nothing to worry about. Even if you did, I'd be with him. I kinda just missed my helo..." George forced a smile and rubbed the back of his yellow head while pointing at an ascending helicopter with his other hand.

"Well, I guess I don't have much choice in the matter. Where are the Zs?"

"Right over there. Jacob, you just follow me." He pointed to a group of helicopters starting up at the far East end of the field.

"Better get going."

"O-okay!" Zack ran off towards the helicopters.

"Right. Jacob, follow me, we're getting out of here."


	6. Chapter 6

Jacob trailed closely behind his immigrant sponsor, gazing at the rows of helicopters, and behind them, the remains of a once-proud base being loaded into some of these aircraft. It was quite impressive, actually, that in a matter of days such a massive fortress could be broken down into pieces and transported completely by air. He'd also heard stories of massive transport jets capable of flying through space, but so far that was an unconfirmed rumor. As Georg leisurely paced along the rows of choppers, his immigrant hopeful noticed that more and more in rows ahead of the one they were currently walking along were lifting off.

"So, how long does it take to get all of these people out of here?"

"Not too long, if the directors can get people organized. You heard the thirty-minute warning earlier, that's the amount of time we have to get everything here off the ground and headed towards the withdrawl centres up in Maine."

"Why Maine?"

"Well, lotta space to park transports, and it isn't that densely populated."

"Alright... why is it you're moving everything by air, and how come all of these helicopters are getting off the ground now, that alert was five minutes ago..."

"For your first question, it's just easier, and we aren't prohibited by fuel for our aircraft most of the time. Gas converters and the like, you'll learn about that when we get to the empire I suppose. Number two, the top officers in charge here probably want all the civilians out of the way before we start moving the really big stuff. People getting squished does not look good on unit records..."

Jacob shuddered at the thought of being squished as he saw a low-hovering helicopter having a large tank attached to a clamp mounted where a cargo bay/passenger cabin would normally be. Georg must've detected this as he immediately tried to downplay his previous statement.

"It's a very rare occurance, 'n none of the units in this task force have that on their record."

The alien Corporal suddenly stopped as they passed a helicopter loading civilians with some short note written on a piece of paper impaled on a wooden stake in the Eteno's language.

"Here's our ride, come on."

While Jacob was a bit apprehensive standing at the open cargo bay door, he swallowed what little irrational fear he had and stepped inside the craft when an old human man, most likely in his eighties, waved for him to come in. While it was obciously of alien design, the inside of the helicopter felt oddly human. In fact, one could've easily convinced him that it was of human design had the invasions never taken place, had humanity stayed alone in the universe, like many believed they would've. Between each hard, lightly-cushioned seat in the rows of the helicopter was a small glass window. When Jacob sat down on his seat, feeling a small creak in the hardly-comfortable material, he turned his head to look out of his window. Dirt was being blown into the air as many of the lined-up choppers' rotors came to life. Their cargo doors closed in unison with the door of Jacob's helicopter. As the engines started up in his craft, he could feel the slowly-increasing vibrations in his seat caused by the rotors. The metal blades spawned a low, calming hum that reverberated throughout the aircraft as it slowly rose from the ground, and fled from the wide fields below. Soon enough, the mighty helicopter's rotors tilted forwards and assumed the positions of that of a turboprop cruiser. However, unlike relatively primitive human craft, this machine moved with a shockingly great speed into and through the clouds, humming away. The flight lasted a whole thirty minutes, an absurdly short time for a helicopter, regardless of how it was designed to cruise through the sky. It dipped below the cloud layer, and out of his window Jacob saw an even larger field than before, but clogged with vehicles, men, and huge space transports loading immense quantities of war material, civilians, and heavily-armed soldiers. The HV-17 hastily set down in the first open spot that the pilot found, and offloaded its' cargo.

"Out we go. Soon, you'll be in space! How about that, eh?" Georg was unwittingly bringing back a flood of queries about the nature of living in an interstellar empire.

Jacob was herded out, and almost lost his bag to the HV-17 he had ridden in as the cargo door was slowly raised before he had made it off the craft. He took in the awe-inspiring view of dozens of gargantuan space-worthy transports, as well as the idea that he was going to ride in one.

"It's an impressive sight, isn't it? The mighty movers of the mighty war machine, my Lieutenant always tells me."

His Lieutenant was certainly correct. If these spaceships were not mighty, than absolutely nothing in the world was. Or, as Jacob would learn to say during his life in the empire, nothing in the galaxy.

"I almost envy you, actually. I don't think I can really comprehend the amazement at being thrust from such a, no offense, primitive culture into one a thousand years more advanced in a matter of days... there _is _no wonder quite like that, I would guess."

"There... isn't..."

Jacob was torn out of his somewhat-wistful moment by a loud whistle coming from a series of loudspeaker towers.

"Attention! Final transport extraction departs in exactly one hour, that is one hour! All military personnel with immigrant hopefuls are to load immediately onto transports 25563A and 25563B immediately. All other military personnel are to load onto the designated transports. 41st Mechanized Regiment, transport 15172U, 15th Fire Support Regiment, transport 36285LL..."

Georg turned his attention away from the announcement, tapped Jacob on the shoulder, and said,

"Hey look, there's your father. Come on, we've got a transport to get onto!"


	7. Chapter 7

_Three days later..._

It had seemed like three years. Three years of time in transit. Three years of great anticipation of what was so close on the horizon. Three years of sheer boredom. Such agonizing boredom and anticipation. Such was the suffering of this wonderful event unfolding that Jacob ran wherever he could find space. He would run and run, desperate to tire himself out so that he could sleep for the majority of the trip.

But... perhaps that wasn't the only reason. Perhaps there was someone he wanted to run into. It may have seemed like such a premature time to approach this individual, but who knew how spread out humans could become in a short time. If these alien starships could transit a quarter of a galactic arm in a mere three days, one had to wonder how extensive of an empire could be made. The packed schools that remained standing on Earth spoke of an empire consisting of trillions of individuals, but even for an alien race... that was an unimaginably great number.

So Jacob felt that he spent three years tiring himself out, and approaching a girl. Contrary to Jacob's expectations, she was not shy, or curt in her replies. One might even say she actually enjoyed talking with him. If so, things were going quite well for just having left the only world you have known for your whole life. Her name was Lynn, and she had been sponsored along with her grandmother by a higher-ranking Eteno officer. According to her, it was because her grandmother offered his entire unit food during the month-long siege of the town.

When the transport made its first landing, everyone, both human and Eteno, stood in excitement with their belongings. The enthusiasim of the humans, however, was curtailed when an announcement over the ship's speakers noted that immigrant hopefuls could not disembark at an Imperial Army statging area. Even so, they had reached Malisk II, the highly-anticipated gem of the Eteno's nation. Much to Jacob's dismay, Georg informed him and his father that they would have to go on without his aid to an immigrant processing centre. He said it was a relatively new structure, completed about halfway through the occupation of Earth, and given the name _Ellis Island Immigration Registration Facility _because of the expectation that humans would be one of the largest early races to be sent through it. With that bit of information, Georg and every other Eteno departed the transport within half an hour of it landing.

It wasted no time in taking off again, and it was a mere five-minute flight to the immigration facility. Unlike the first landing, where the heavy-duty cargo doors of the starship opened up to a paved staging area adorned with multicoloured painted lines and words in the Eteno's language, the ship docked with a passenger terminal. From the main cargo door, Jacob, his father, and the rest of the immigrant hopefuls disembarked into their first true taste of Eteno architecture.

It was as grand as it was packed with bodies. A single blue, enormous window was placed at the far end of the massive single room, inviting the brilliant rays of Sius to shine in. Directly in front of the window was a towering metal statue of three crossing swords, casting a peculiar shadow amongst the blue-tinted floor. The effect of this arrangement was the creation of a giant Eteno Imperial Triumvirate flag across much of the room, alluding to a great sense of national pride. Eteno policemen ushered Jacob and his father, who stuck close together in this mob of people, into a random line, delineated by holographically-coloured floor sections.

As their line grew shorter, the pair of father and son observed that ahead was a small station manned by three or four policemen, followed by others with similar appearance. When Jacob and his father reached the station, one of the diminutive men scanned the pair with an odd-looking handheld device, resembling a plastic nightstick of some sort. It emitted a short humming noise, before the Eteno grunted and waved the pair through.

At the next station, one of the Eteno was in possession of a translator. With it, he hit the pair with a barrage of questions.

"Are you willing to learn our language, abide by our laws, pay our taxes, respect our culture, and if so decided, be drafted into the Eteno Imperial Armed Forces?"

"I... drafted?" Jacob's father replied.

"Yes or no? If you don't answer, I _will _send you back!" The Eteno gestured to a group of wailing humans being forced back into the transport by police armed with clubs.

"Yes, yes, we are willing."

"Good. Know that you have now locked yourself into a temporary agreement of obedience to the Department of Immigration. Imperial Police Officers can arrest and deport you on account of knowing disregard of our law without trial. Move along, or you will be incarcerated."

Jacob and his father did so without hesitation. While it was certainly a rather scary sight, seeing armed police handle immigration like that, Jacob did note that he had not observed a single instance of the Eteno actually _assailing _anyone. Maybe the crowds were too thick, but Jacob was sure that panic from a scuffle would spread faster than light. But... it was also scary that he'd just been locked into something he hardly comprehended, even if the alternative was unbearable in every sense of the word.

The next station was much more calm, with none of the rush or aggression of the previous. A female Eteno, in English, made a series of statements as she passed the pair two handheld computers, unbendable but thin.

"Welcome to the Eteno Imperial Triumvirate. You will be given a temporary foster family outside the city. In exchange, they will receive a tax deduction. A mandatory class for learning our language, Luuschtuntski, as well as integrating yourself into our national culture, will be open to you. Once these classes are concluded, you will both be required to attend weekly civil defense drills. There is also the possibility that you will be drafted, should the current legislation regarding service by requirement be altered to bring first-generation immigrants into the services by law. For your information, the Imperial Congress will be debating this in two days' time. On these handhelds are all of the necessary information and instructions you will need to start off your life in our great empire. I'm sure you will both make fine citizens. Thank you, and move along, or you will be incarcerated." The female alien voice was oddly soothing, and ironically so as she uttered the last part of her speech.

A policeman waved Jacob and his father along. Signs with bright orange arrows on them pointed to six wide revolving glass doors, beyond which was amassed a fleet of hovervehicles parked in the middle of a street. Immigrants crowded the sidewalks adjacent to the street, all looking to their handheld computers for some sort of information. As the pair approached the revolving doors, their computers vibrated in their hands. In English, instructions were listed regarding transportation. The two were to take a green-coloured bus.


	8. Chapter 8

Finding and getting on a green bus was the relatively easy part. Actually getting out of the facility's grounds was the difficult part. Busses would only get moving once they were full, or very close to being full. Jacob's bus was near the end of the closely-packed hovervehicles. This meant that about half an hour was spent doing absolutely nothing. Well, everybody except for Jacob. By some sort of grand stellar conspiracy, a certain Lynn was aboard the very same vehicle. While others spent time twiddling their thumbs in abject boredom or sleeping, Jacob had the pleasure of a delightful conversation. It was centred around fantasies about the alien empire, mostly, and the technological wonders to be found. It was a line of conversation and thought that Jacob indulged himself with frequently, but that made it no less fascinating or exciting.

Eventually, the vehicle set off, speeding away from the concourse with nothing but the soft hum of exotic engines being heard. All eyes were facing out of the tight windows, desperately trying to catch glimpses of grand alien structures as they whizzed by. Unfortunately for these eyes, most of what they would meet would be farmland or manufactory, as the green bus apparently provided service outside of the capital city area. This capital city being Eteno City, supposedly the grandest and most heavily populated city in the empire.

When that piercing wail sounded, the vehicle was stopped near a cluster of country homes, built of tan wood and reinforced with metal alloy bars, as the branches of towering pine trees swayed in the wind above. A handful of people disembarked, their eyes locked on their handhelds, searching for the next step or snippet of useful information. Concealed flack guns that narry a single human had spotted before pounded furiously at the sky while searchlights illuminated the orange evening sky. The bus' driver, an AI, proceeded to feed instructions to the remaining passengers telling them, in essence, to get off the bus and head for a ditch. Nobody wasted a second in doing so.

Jacob attempted to retrieve his bag resting on a rack at the rear of the vehicle, but his father yanked him away by the shoulder and pulled him away from the bus with him. Soon, black puffs and tracers crowded the entirety of the sky, as the roar of engines became apparent in the distance. To Jacob, they seemed to be coming from one of the fields. He turned to the origination of the sound, and in the far distance, it appeared that aircraft of some sort were being launched in the distance. Just as he was dragged into a ditch, he saw a thin, black frame with long, forward-swept wings catapulting across a field, and into the sky.

It was rather obvious what was going on at this point. Even aliens apparently were familiar with air raids.

"_Good_", Jacob thought, "_It seems they understand how we felt._"

As the flack guns continued to send their rounds up into the clouds, two fighters screamed overhead at a staggering speed, one chasing the other. They were going so fast that nobody could even distinguish their shape. They may as well have been random balls of metal speeding by.

Nearly ten minutes passed after that, the dominating characteristic of the event being the ever-present wailing of raid sirens and the steady thrumming of the flack gun against the dirt. Then, all at once, the frenzy stopped. The flack gun was silenced along with the sirens, and the bus' AI relayed a message from the vehicle's speakers, rather loudly one might add, that it was safe to return and that service would be continuing shortly.

It was so peculiar, how the AI seemed to go on. Even as the bus passed wrecked fighters not too far from the road, or burning buildings being tended to by fire crews, it soldiered on without even seeming to acknowledge what was going on.

As the vehicle slowed gingerly to a stop at another cluster of rural homes, the handhelds of both Jacob and his father vibrated as they were nestled between their arms and sides. Text indicated that this was the location of their new home. So, they got off with their bags, paying no mind to the others that disembarked with them. Tiny maps appeared on their handhelds, displaying their current position and the cluster of homes before them on a grassy knoll. With no prior warning, Jacob's shuddered in nervousness. It seemed so far way before, as did other things, but now... now was the time that he would actually be meeting and getting to know real live aliens. Not just a quick few conversations or jokes like with Georg, but actual social discourse. Jacob's father either ignored or failed to notice this, and started towards the home marked on his handheld. Jacob followed close behind. He was just behind his father when he rapped on the door of the marked home, that looked so similar to the others around it, and the ones before. Some talking in the alien language was heard, as well as the sound of a person making their way heavily and wearily down stairs. This was it.

The door opened to Georg, three other Eteno standing close behind.


End file.
